Springtime In the Orchard

I love springtime in the orchard. 

The trees are beginning to grow and get leaves and bloom!

I took these pictures a few weeks ago in the Apricot orchard near our home.

The trees on the left are Apricot trees and the trees on the right are Fuji Apple trees.

The soft fruit blooms earlier than the harder fruit, it will be a few weeks

before the Fujis bloom.

These blossoms are mostly white with a hint of pink and being in the orchard

when they are blooming is just heavenly! The scent they

give off is so sweet and relaxing to me.  This year the trees were

pruned before the blooms popped, and the orchards look neat, tidy and beautiful.

I love this view down the rows, it makes me just want to walk through the orchard 

and enjoy the sunlight and scent of the blooms.

You can look closely at the individual blooms and see the bees working

and polenating the trees. We have a Honey Man bring hives of bees to the orchards

to make sure everything is polenated well.

All these hives will be put in different locations on the farm over the course of the next few weeks.

Look closely. All the black dots you see, even on the dirt, are bees. I was hoping to get 

a closer picture, but there were so many bees, I decided I didn't want to get stung! 

There were at least 30 bees on my car when I got into it after taking this picture.

This year the weather was good, breezy but not so much wind and rain that the bees 

 stayed in their hives. When it is cold and wet, the bees want to stay dry in their hives
and the orchards are not pollenated very well. We have a smaller crop that year.

 We always get some honey from the Honey Man and it is yummy!

Hubby needed some help one day last week to move the bees into the peach orchard

on a different location on the farm.

I drove his pick up down to the bee hives near the Apricots with a bin trailer behind it. 

He used the forklift to place the hives on the trailer and we drove them to the Peaches. 

We also grow other soft fruit in this small block. Nectarines, Plums, Saturn (doughnut) peaches,

Apriums, Pluots, Plumcots (yes, those are real fruits!), white flesh nectarines, white flesh peaches, 

varieties of peaches. I didn't know there were so many varieties of fruits!

and we don't grow nearly all of them!

Peaches bloom pink! At least the variety that is in bloom now! The scent these give off is different from  apricots, but it is just as wonderful to walk in this area of the orchard. And not as many bees around here as over by the hives!

You can hear the bees buzzing and humming and it just sounds like spring to me!

Aren't the Peach blosoms just gorgeous?

I hope you've enjoyed my springtime on the farm pictures. I pretty much love the farm, whatever the season!

Hugs and happy spring days to you!

Betsy

My Favorite Girls in the World! Part II

After we finished taking the First Set of Pictures,

we staged had a lemonade party (there wasn't time for a real one!)

Lemonade or Hot Chocolate parties are a favorite family tradition for us,

so we had to include this in our photo shoot.

The table is one the two older girls had in their room when they were small.

It has been used, abused, and loved for years.

The crochet table cloth I found at the flohmarkt in Germany for 3 Euros.

Grandgirl*1 waiting patiently for her cup.
She is wearing the Easter gloves her Mother wore when she was this age. Her Mother was very careful with

her beloved gloves, so I was able to save them and remembered to get them out for this occasion.

Grandgirl*2 anticipates getting her cup into her hands. 

The Baby gown is so beautifully embroidered. Grandgirl *2 didn't mind what she was wearing as long as she could have her cup.

Grandgirl is wearing a French style dress her Mother found for her that has machine made

Broderie Anglaise, on it, but so adorable and sweet, just like her!

They brought the dress with them from Germany for our pictures!
You can see the details in the french top, purchased from LuluLiz of course,
that Daughter*4 is wearing, delicate and beautiful! Amazing handwork!

Grandgirl*2 knows her cup is empty, maybe the teapot has something in it!

This is Daughter*4's teaset from when she was little. We continue to use it when
neices and Grandnieces come to visit.

We have this much fun with cookies and lemonade, too!

I cannot begin to tell you how thrilled I was to take these pictures after 

planning for this day for 14 months. I loved how they turned out,

and I hope that we can take pictures at a real lemonade picnic lunch next time

those sweet Grands are visiting us from Germany, and all my girls are 

with me again, all under the same roof for just a few days...

A few more pictures I LOVE from the day...

Kitty wanted to be in these too, she just walked all around.
Love this one, the girls were thrilled to eat the green apples. 

Trying to be serious to make a black and white out of it...
Daughter*1 looks like she isn't sure she believes you...Daughter*2 looks almost mad!
Daughter*3 looks like she did when she was in trouble when she was little,
I look dazed and in shock...and Daughter*4 has that Model look down pat,
none of the looks we hoped we had on our faces!

We just coulnd't pull it off! I said something funny and smiled and they started laughing!

Finally we got a better version,
we were all envious of that Model look on Daughter*4...
The best one was the first picture we took in this sequence that I posted
in part one of the photo shoot.

Can you see in this picture that Daughters *3 and *4 are wearing skirts that have a similar Broderie Anglaise
pattern on them to GrandGirl*1's dress? The pinks are just a tiny bit difference in color, but
I found these skirts for $7 each! PERFECT for this day!

These do I love, old things, old places....

Remembered times, Familiar faces 

I love my girls and Mom, with every fiber of each one of my heartstrings...

Hope you enjoyed our pictures!

Hugs to you all!

BETSY

Posting with  Courtney at French Country Cottage

for

Feathered Nest Friday

And
at Timewashed for

Blissful Whites Wednesday

Thanks Becky!